Last Tuesday, students learned that football tickets for the 2007 season were sold out. Although not surprising in itself, as Camp Randall is routinely sold out, the real shock came to many students because they did not even know they were on sale.
The UW athletic department gave numerous students non-apologetic sentiments concerning the lack of e-mail notification, even going so far as to say it was our fault for not ordering them in time.
They claim all students should have known when the ticket-purchasing period began because of chalk messages and newspaper advertisements. Yet clearly, as evident by the hundreds, if not thousands, of students who were unaware of the sale of football tickets, there was a severe breakdown in communication.
Raise your hand if you religiously read the chalk writings on the sidewalk. Chances are you do not and usually walk over them in a frantic, New York-paced walk to class. Since most chalkings do nothing more than tell students of a guest lecturer or of an upcoming protest, this is understandable. Chalk writings as my number one source for Badger tickets? Extremely doubtful.
Moreover, what about students who studied abroad this semester? Did somebody write chalk messages on the sidewalks of London for them? Of course not.
Again, raise your hand if you religiously read all advertisements in the campus newspapers. You are lying if you say you do. I read the newspaper on a daily basis, but to save time, I usually gloss over the advertisements.
Now raise your hand if you routinely check your university e-mail account. As a student, it is all but assured that you check your e-mail at least once per day.
Students often receive pertinent information from professors, teaching assistants, academic advisors and, until now, the UW Athletic Department. Why it neglected to send an e-mail to many students regarding the sale of football tickets is anyone's guess.
However, the most pressing question from this whole ordeal still remains: Why doesn't the Athletic Department care that many students feel neglected and deprived?
After these follies were discovered, did anyone receive an apologetic e-mail from the Athletic Department? Granted, apologies will not turn back time and give a student tickets for their last hurrah—their senior year campaign at this university.
However, it would at least be nice to see them acknowledge their mistake instead of blatantly blaming students for not knowing when to purchase them or for not checking their junk mail. Students had always received notification via e-mail, so why would they think they needed to take a proactive stance this time?
Furthermore, students who did take a proactive approach by checking uwbadgers.com weeks ago may have still not known when to purchase tickets. The policy listed on the website reads, ""Season ticket notices will be e-mailed to returning students on April 21, 2007."" That sentence, and the paragraph that follows, never mentions a specific date tickets will go on sale. Not once.
In fact, from this quote, one can infer that the e-mail to be sent out on April 21 would simply contain the information regarding the actual date of ticket sales.
Indeed, the fast sellout of the tickets allocated to returning students will undoubtedly be regarded by the Athletic Department as a sign of success. They sold out. They got their money. Some students were left in the dark. The program goes on.
Ultimately, this debacle by the Athletic Department is enough to drive a person to drink. Luckily for students who got hosed, this is UW-Madison, where there is pretty much a bar around every corner. To them I say, ""Bottoms up.""
